A look at the five burning questions of the week in college basketball:

1. The Selection Committee can’t find 68 deserving teams, and now some athletics directors and coaches want to go to 128! Are you like us and want to scream every time somebody mentions expanding the NCAA Tournament field?

DeCourcy: There are some really bad ideas proposed in sports from time to time. It makes me nuts, for instance, when I hear people suggest baseball's “draft rule” would operate well in basketball. That degree of foolishness is hard to countenance, because the people who talk most about it should be smarter.

But that’s not even in the same league of dumb as proposing to double the size of the NCAA Tournament field.

Who would be getting into a 128-team tournament? Well, look who’s currently 128th in the Ratings Percentage Index standings: the very same Lamar team that coach Pat Knight suggested had players “stealing money” by being on athletic scholarship. The team with “worst group of seniors I've ever been associated with.” His words, not mine.

Who else is in the neighborhood? Tennessee State. Fairfield. Oh, and UCLA. Perhaps you’ve heard of them.

2. It’s March and the sun is shining outside, but that doesn’t mean storm clouds aren’t gathering for some top-ranked team. What top-10 team should be most worried about its NCAA Tournament fate?

DeCourcy: After getting the chance for my first in-person look at No. 8 Marquette, I continue to love the Golden Eagles’ spirit and toughness. They have two elite players in forward Jae Crowder and guard Darius Johnson-Odom, and they’re as hard to defend man-to-man as anyone this side of Missouri.

They are vulnerable to a well-played zone, though, or to a gimmick like a triangle-and-2 because opponents can concentrate on Crowder and DJO and not worry much about being destroyed from another angle. Their complementary players are solid but unlikely to beat you in a halfcourt game.

The reason for that is simple: A good team engaging Marquette in a halfcourt game shouldn’t have huge trouble scoring. The Golden Eagles are surprisingly vulnerable to the drive. Cincinnati got the ball to the rim at will on Wednesday night, and there are better offensive teams out there than the Bearcats.

Marquette needs every game to be a scramble — the wilder, the better. In an open-court, fast-break, end-to-end game, the Golden Eagles have few peers. Let’s be honest: How often do we see that brand of basketball in the NCAAs?

MORE SPORTING NEWS

3. Now that the mid-major tournaments are tipping off, what mid-major teams are comfortably “in” the NCAA field and which ones most need to make a statement in the next few days?

DeCourcy: Murray State is in great shape regardless of whether it wins the Ohio Valley, as well as Missouri Valley titans Wichita State and Creighton.

It’s hard to know what would happen with Long Beach State (Big West), Oral Roberts (Summit League) and Middle Tennessee State (Sun Belt) if they were to fumble away automatic bids. All three would belong in the NCAAs because they’ve been great, and there isn’t much excellence to be found among the high-majors on the bubble. But it’d be best for everybody involved if they’d just go ahead and make it automatic.

The most fascinating mid-majors from a selection standpoint are the pair at the top of the Colonial Athletic Association. The CAA has placed two teams in the Final Four since 2006 and yet bracket analysts keep suggesting there’s only one bid available for Drexel (25-5) and VCU (25-6).

I still believe if they were to meet in the CAA final, both teams would make the field. But that’s not going to be easy with George Mason and Old Dominion around. And I might be alone in that belief, anyway.

4. We know all too well the list of players who broke our hearts this season and didn’t approach their potential. What players have impressed you the most, showing marked improvement the last couple months?

DeCourcy: It’s not that Saint Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson has improved. We ranked him among our top-10 centers entering the season. But his play down the stretch as his college career approaches its end has been extraordinary, and it might even push the Bonnies into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000. It’s not like the A-10 has a clear favorite for its automatic bid.

Over Nicholson’s past four games, he has averaged 29.8 points and 11.8 rebounds. That’s a guy playing like his career is coming to a close.

Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor is a player whose story we’ve known well. He spent his first 3½ seasons as a volatile talent who occasionally was undisciplined off the court and frequently was undisciplined on it.

Is that guy gone for good? It’s a bit reckless to suggest as much, but Taylor lately has played with an understanding of the game and his role within it. He still turns the ball over a lot but no longer a ton. He got through 44 minutes at home against No. 7 Missouri with only one turnover. He’s had only two games of four-plus turnovers since Jan. 16; he had seven between the start of the season and Christmas.

5. Purdue’s Robbie Hummel — finally — went through his Senior Night celebration on Wednesday. What seniors are you most going to miss?